US1674430A - Egg flat - Google Patents

Description

June 19, 1928.

. N. E. FUNK EGG; FLAT Filed Oct. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l avwghto'c nelson F F June 19, 1928. 1,674,430

N. E. FUNK EGG FLAT Filed 001:. 5., 1927 2 Sheets-Shgqt INVENTOR 3] 'JYeYso-rz 1? Funk ATTORNEY S Patented June 19, 1928.

UNITED STATES A 1,674,430 PATENT OFFICE.

NELSON E. FUNK, OF MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO FRANK D. BERRY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

EGG FLAT.

Application filed October 3, 1927. Serial No. 223,659.

This invention relates to improvements in the art of packing fragile articles such as eggs and globular articles made of glass or brittle material. It is customary in the packing of said articles to place them upon supports projecting from a fiat piece of ma-' terial called a flat, to surround them by walls of cardboard and to .place on the top another fiat, the enclosing walls for said ar- 70 ticles being supported by the two flats and the whole forming a packing unit. It is the prime object of this invention to improve upon the flats now used .in commerce and to provide a process for forming such improved flats.

In the past it has been proposed to make such flats of cardboard or heavy paper by stamping the supporting projections out of said material. Since neither cardboard nor paper will stretch the obvious result was that the material would break at the points of deformation, and would be useless for the purpose intended. Furthermore, the fibres of paper having set once in a definite position in the original manufacture of the paper always tend to return to normal position after deformation, thereby causing the projections on the flatto assume irregular positions. For these reasons none of the 30 early devices were, to applicants knowledge, commercially successful or commonly used. A later development of the art to overcome some of .the above mentioned deficiencies,

was to manufacture said flats from loosefibres such as pulp, by pressing them in sheet form into the desired shape, While damp, and then drying. But though this development overcame some of the objections to earlier devices, it was open to objections of a different nature although fully as serious.

The main objections to this type of flat are that in the first place thereis not suflicient cohesion between the fibres to withstand any substantial pressure, and secondly, and of greater weight, that pulp having a very strong aflinity for water, they rapidly absorb moisture from the cool damp air to which they are usually'subjected, becoming limp and useless for the purpose intended.

To overcome these objections as well as objections to earlier devices, applicant has formed a flat of expansible paper, an example of which is the well-known crepe paper. This type of paper contains numerous small crinkles which, if any stress is put upon the mechanisms for carrying out the paper, straighten out, giving greater surface to the paper. It must be understood that the paper tself does not stretch but that the increase 1n size is due to the smoothing out of of said crinkles.

In practising this invention a plurality of layers of such paper are superimposed and united by a water-proof glue, for which purpose a solution of sodium silicate is preferred for the reason that it is very stable, sets very hard and is flexible when set. After the layers of paper are so bound and before the glue is set they are subjected to an embossing operation. Due to the fact that the glue is still damp, the various lay ers are movable relative to each other whereby allowance is made for necessary slippage between layers when making curved surfaces. In addition to this, the strains to which the paper is subjected during the embossing operation are taken care otby the expansibility of the paper, as polnted out above, and the finished article presents a substantially smooth appearance. The thickness of paper used is governed by the weight of flat desired. All the layers may be of the same thickness or the middle layers may be of greater thickness than the outer layers, but whatever be the thickness, the paper must be creped or made expansible by some other method, or the product will be unsatisfactory.

The flat so produced is a uniform article having no weak points, is not affected by moisture, has suflicient strength to withstand a substantial pressure, and is at the same time elastic enough to give under a pressure slightly below the crushing force of the fragile articles supported thereon. The importance of such an article in commerce can be easily recognized when the millions of dozens of eggs and other fragile articles shipped yearly is taken into account together with the great loss incurred through breakage from rough handling. The process by 100 which the flats are formed and the article itself are illustrated in the accompanying. drawings in which Fig. 1 is a side view of an arrangement of rocess.

fl Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the at.

Fig. 3 is a section through a packin unit in use slightly enlarged to show the p ies of the fiat.

Referring to the drawings in detail and particularly to Fig. 1, A, B and C are rollers carrying a supply of paper from which the various strips are let off and entrained over idlers not numbered. The strip from roller A passes through a pair of ore ing rollers 3- and 4, by which is meant r0 lers that are so constructed that they break and gather the fibres both longitudinally and transversely of the web, thus supplying a surplus of paper so that when the raised portions are embossed the paper is not fractured. In like manner, the paper from roll C passes between creping rollers 5 and 6. The paper from roll B being the middle layer, after passing through creping rollers 1 and 2 passes around a roller 25 in a vat 26 filled with sodium silicate solution of desired consistency, and from there passes through rollers 24 which remove the excess of adhesive which drops back into the tank.

-Rollers 22 and 23 are pressing rollers through which the strips pass simultaneously 7 and 8 are feed rollers which feed the combined strips from rollers 22 and 23 to platen 11. 13 is a knife reciprocated by eccentric 17 on the shaft of disc 19 which is in contact with the driving disc 20. Mounted adjacent the knife 13 is a stop 12 which binds the strips against the platen 11 on the downward motion of the knife 13 thereby stopping their movement until the knife has cut off the desired length. Rollers 9 and 10 are feed rollers which move the paper onto plate 15 which is the female member of a die, and which is heated by steam or other common means. The male member of the die 14 is reciprocated by an eccentric 16 on the shaft of the disc 18 which is connected to the driving disc 20. 21 is a conveyor for removing the finished article.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, it will be seen that the finished flat is made up of three plies of material, although it is not limited to this number, and is corrugated transversely and longitudinally, the corrugations 29 being pressed downwardly and intersecting to form squares 30 of which there are usually thirty-six to a flat. Centrally located in each square is a convex portion 31 pressed upwardly from the fiat. In the center of each convex portion is a concavity 32 formed by pressing the convex port-ion in the opposite direction. Returning to the process it is to be noted that the speed with which the paper passes through the machine is substantially rapid so that the glue will not have begun to set before the laminated structure is placed on the table 15. The parts of the machine are so timed that as soon as the paper rests on the female member 15 the male member 14 is brought down upon it pressing it into the depressions in 15, at which stage the heat of the member 15 dries the glue and stiifens the flat in the shape of the mold.

When packing globulararticles as shown resting in the corrugations. Then another flat is placed on the top in inverted position so that the concavities of its squares engage the upper portion of theglobular articles and its corrugations engage the upper edges of the cell walls. In this way a packin unit is formed, all walls of which are locke from movement in all directions, and in which the globular articles are firmly supported in spaced relation both to the walls of the outer casing and to each other. It is further obvious that by the use of this flat, because of its firmness and immunity to injury by atmospheric conditions, the articles will arrive at their destination in the same shape in which they are packed regardless of rough handling, damp weather or exposure to water as such either in the form of rain or leakage. A further advantage of these flats is that they are very light thereby reducing shipping expenses both when in use and when shipped empty in nested relation.

Having thus fully described the invention as practiced, to which description, however, the invention is not limited, it only being the preferred form and capable of various modifications and alterations within the scope of the invention, what is claimed as new is 1. As an article of manufacture an egg flat having intersecting corrugations and comprising a plurality of plies of expansible paper adhesively secured in superlmposed relation.

2. As an article of manufacture an egg flat comprising a plurality of plies of expansible paper adhesively secured in superimposed relation and having downwardly directed longitudinal and transverse corrugations forming seats for the side walls of egg cells and upwardly directed convex portions each having a central concavity to receive the end of an egg.

3. As. an article of manufacture an egg fiat having upwardly directed convex portions each having a central concavity to receive the end of an egg, said flat being composed of a plurality of plies of expansible paper adhesively secured in superlmposed relation.

' In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

NELSON E. FUNK.

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